AMMAN – The head of the Jordanian Bar Association, lawyer Yahya Abu Abboud, confirmed that his syndicate has already begun documenting "the crimes of the occupation in the Gaza Strip", in coordination with its Palestinian counterpart, specifically the lawyers of the Gaza Strip.
Abu Abboud explained, in an interview with Al Jazeera Net, that the Jordanian Syndicate is documenting the crimes of the occupation in the Gaza Strip during the battle of "Al-Aqsa flood", and communicates with the Palestinian Bar Association, specifically the lawyers of the Gaza Strip, to help them document "the killing of civilians, especially children and women."
The Jordanian president, who was authorized by the Arab Lawyers Union to speak on his behalf, pointed to procedural steps that will be taken in the coming weeks, by working to file lawsuits in various international courts, in cooperation between the Arab Lawyers Union, Arab syndicates, international institutions and individuals.
He pointed out that the Bar Association will demand that Israeli officials responsible for humanitarian violations against civilians and war crimes against Palestinians be referred to international justice in order to be convicted for the acts attributed to them.
Abu Abboud pointed out that "the actions and practices of the occupation in Gaza constitute all the elements of war crimes and crimes against humanity through the systematic destruction of hospitals, residential buildings, mosques and churches, the deliberate killing of civilians, and the occupation's use of white phosphorus, which is internationally prohibited."
He called on the international community to take immediate action to stop "the massacres committed by the occupation, and the threat to the safe and refugees in schools, hospitals and places of worship."
Global public opinion
On the feasibility of documenting the crimes of the occupation and the fate of what was documented in the previous wars on the Gaza Strip, Abu Abboud said that "the idea of prosecuting the perpetrators of war crimes crystallized with the emergence of the Rome Statute at the end of 1998, and thus there is a broader understanding and greater ability to prosecute the occupation, and the matter has become more important with the development of the media, which now publishes and documents the crimes of the occupation."
The same spokesman explained that in the case of Gaza today, the aggression has become a global public opinion, "which supports our position in international courts, because the global media is a neutral tool, and does not belong to parties related to the equation of war here or there."
He warned against "violating the right of the Palestinian people, which is inalienable in international law, to self-determination, and their right to resist the Zionist occupier."
Refusal to condemn the resistance
In the same context, Abu Abboud confirmed that the Jordanian Bar Association was able to oblige the International Union of Lawyers (UIA), based in Paris, to issue a statement condemning the crimes of the occupation in the Gaza Strip, after a statement was issued by the Union condemning the resistance in Gaza, which the Association categorically rejected and threatened to withdraw from the International Federation.
"We stressed the need for the International Union of Lawyers to call on the occupation to stop the military operations towards Gaza, and to conduct an impartial and transparent investigation, with the need and speed of the continuous and permanent flow of humanitarian aid, fuel and water to the besieged in Gaza," the captain added. "On the contrary, the occupation has committed a war crime against humanity by cutting off the basic needs of the population in the Gaza Strip," he said.
Abu Abboud believes that the statement of the International Union of Lawyers contained serious irregularities that violate the charter of the Union, which adopts neutrality in political positions, which would take the Union to the individual personal whims of its president, according to his conclusion.